Research And Describe Streetcar Named Desire And Doll's House (Research Paper Sample)

Name
Instructor
Course
Date
STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE AND DOLL'S HOUSE
Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House are two plays that give a strong portrayal of male-female relationships in families. In the two plays, the main female character’s; Nora Hemler in A Doll’s House and Stella Kowalski in A Street Named Desire, are portrayed as properties by their male counterparts in the relationships. However, at the end of the plays, their characterisations change in the way they react to discoveries of oppression from the males. The two are treated as objects of lust as opposed to love. The two plays are rich in themes and symbolism meant to represent concepts and abstract ideas observable in real life. This research paper analyses the similarities and the differences in the two plays.
Lust, marriage, selfishness, guilt, sacrifice, and secrecy are major outcomes in the two plays. Lust is presented as occurring from both the males and the females in the plays. In the play, A Doll’s House, characters such as Mrs Linde and Dr. Drank as presented as having ulterior motives of lust towards Krogstad and Nora respectively. Dr. Drank makes a confession to Nora Helmer of his desire to love her. “Well, at all events you know now that you can command me, body and soul….Yes, yes. You mustn’t punish me in that way. Let me have permission to do for you whatever a man may do” (Ibsen, 101). Mrs Linde, on the other hand reveals to Krogstad of her desire to rekindle their love, now that there are free in terms of marriage. The lustful nature of characters is heavily depicted in the play A Streetcar Named Desire by William Tennessee. Blanche is lustful towards the boy that brought the newspapers when she kisses him and flirt him with lovely words. “Young man! Young, young, young man! Has anyone ever told you that you look like a young Prince out of the Arabian Night? …Well, you do, honey land! Come here. I want to kiss you, just once, softly and sweetly on your mouth” (Williams, 99). Stanley and Mitch are lustful towards Blanche to an extent of Stanley having sex with her and Mitch taking her out for love dates.
Marriage, secrecy, selfishness, and guilt are common themes from the two plays. Marriage is heavily depicted in the two plays. It is however portrayed different, with the marriage between Stanley and Stella shown as lasting for convenience purposes. The marriage between Nora and Torvald Helmer is one of equal partners, where, their economic statuses are at par. Nora leaves Torvald when she realises that her husband does not love her. She is comfortable living alone; unlike Stella, who has to stick with her selfish husband due to pregnancy and sexual gratification. Both Stanley and Torvald are selfish husbands, who only think about their welfare and not for the family. Their selfishness, however, gets a toll on them in some instances. As noted by Grene (204), Torvald tries hard to reconcile with Nora and asking for forgiveness after his true colours are revealed. This is after the outburst he gave to Nora after reading the secret letter from Krogstad. On the other hand, Stanley selfishness comes out in his treatment of Stella; for example, as written by Grene (113), he beats her when confronted by Stella when he quarrels Blanche and Mitch. He is however remorseful and asks for forgiveness from Stella after she runs away to her neighbour Eunice. The remorsefulness or guilt from Stanley is seen as a form of controlling Stella. She easily gives in to him for the sake of family unity. The guilt in Torvald does not make Nora give in to him; instead, leaves him for good.
The theme of secrecy is very prominent in the two plays. Essentially, secrecy plays out as the binding factor until it is revealed. For example, in A Doll’s House, the letter from Krogstad is the symbol of secrecy that Nora has been hiding from her husband. The letter as a form of secret is seen as a most powerful item to an extent that Krogstad gets the better of Nora for the seeking of hiding the truth. According to Grene (26), the secrecy contained in the Krogstad’s letter makes a character such as Nora distract her husband through dancing and singing. Ibsen (119) quotes of Nora’s distracting Torvald from opening the letter-box, “Well, let me look. (Turns to go to the letter-box. NORA, at the piano, plays the first bars of the Tarantella. HELMER stops in the doorway.) Aha!” It is clear that the letter carried vital secrets about Nora’s lies about the loan.
Secrecy in A Streetcar Named Desire is carried by Blanche through her symbolic large trunk. She is secretive to the members in Stanley’s family as well as Mitch until they started discovering them. Williams (26) quotes of the importance attached to the trunk by Blanche, “Everything I own is in that trunk.” While the presence of a large trunk means that Blanche was moving in to stay at Stanley and Stella’s family, it also means her secrets, especially about her financial status and the fate of where she came from. Case (155) writes that the trunk also symbolises the antagonism that existed between Stanley and Blanche until she was taken to hospital. This theme is outstanding throughout in the two plays. To an extent, and especially in Nora’s case, the revealing of the secrets signifies the end of her marriage to Torvald. The revealing of the secrets in A Street Named Desire signifies the downfall of Blanche and the desire for Stella to stick to her husband, Stanley. Stanley too has his fair share of secrets, especially selfishness and lust to Blanche, hence the need for her removal from the family. Despite Blanche’s insistence that she is not mad, and for the sake of holding the secrets of his life, Blanch...